Merlin and the Pixie
by barbequed hamster
Summary: Arthur is enjoying a summer's day, when he notices Merlin outside having a few problems
1. Chapter 1

Merlin and the Pixie

Arthur sighed deeply, and smiled to himself as he wandered down one of the castle corridors. He paused for a moment at one of the windows, and gazed out. At that moment, he didn't want to be anywhere else in the world. Life was good. The sun was shining high up in the sky, Arthur had the whole day to train, and Merlin was chasing a pixie.

_Wait, what?_

Arthur blinked several times, and gazed down at the grass below. No, he had not been mistaken. Merlin really was down on the grass, chasing a pixie.

"_What?" _Arthur shook his head slowly "Merlin what are you doing?" He called out to the dark haired boy below. Merlin, on hearing his voice, looked up and stopped.

"Umm, I've had a slight problem. You don't suppose you could come and, well, um, help me?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll be down in a mome…Look out!" Arthur watched with disbelieving eyes as Merlin turned round to see the pixie, running at his at full speed, baring its teeth.

"Christ!" Arthur turned, and ran down the corridor as fast as he could, before Merlin was torn to pieces.

After Arthur had detached the pixie from Merlin's arm, receiving many bites and scratches in the process, and had eventually pushed it into the nearest thing to hand (a largish leather pouch that Merlin had had on his belt) he finally got the chance to ask Merlin why he had been chasing the pixie in the first place.

"Well, Umm" he started, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "You see, Gaius has been researching a new type of flower, uh, this type of pink flower, and so he sent me to get it this morning from the forest. I was just returning from the forest after getting what he wanted, when, out of the blue, _he_ turns up and steals the flower right out of my hand! So I started to chase him, but… Well he's just so fast. You wouldn't believe how fast he is!"

"Oh, don't worry, I do."

"You do?"

"Yes. He's just escaped from the bag"

"Oh, he's just escaped from the bag. He's just escaped from the bag!" Merlin gasped and turned to see where Arthur was pointing. "Oh, damn" And with that, he began to chase the pixie again, whilst cursing under his breath.

OK, This was just a random story that just came to me, but I don't know whether to continue it or not? What do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Merlin silently poked a camouflaged head around the wall, and glanced around, wishing, for the umpteenth time that day that he had not woken up that morning. Ahead of him, he could see Arthur edging along the other wall, holding the two branches close to his body, in case he caught sight of the pixie and had to halt.

It had been Arthur's idea to disguise themselves as trees, his reasoning being that the pixie was probably too stupid to notice the difference. Unfortunately, they had not yet had a chance to put his theory to test, as they had not seen the pixie since he disappeared around a corner well over an hour ago.

Suddenly Arthur froze. There! Merlin had also caught sight of the pixie which was now only a few feet away from him. He looked at Arthur, and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

_Three…Two…One…_

Go! Arthur and Merlin charged at the pixie who jumped a foot in the air, dropping the daisy that it had just been smelling, and darted off. Unluckily for Arthur and Merlin, they couldn't brake in time and ended up in an unattractive heap on the floor.

"Merlin!"

"What?"

"Your elbow's in my face. Quickly, it's getting away!"

They picked themselves of the ground, and ran off after the pixie, with Arthur in the lead. Merlin had just dashed round the corner, when Arthur halted abruptly, making Merlin bang into him. Arthur turned, and tried to go back around the corner, but it was too late. He had already been seen.

"Arthur?"

Arthur turned to face the voice. "Morgana! I'm sorry, I didn't see you sitting there. Sorry, I'm obviously disturbing you. We'll just be going" He started to return the way he'd just come, but was stopped by Morgana.

"Not until you tell me why you both have branches strapped to your arms and leaves stuck in your hair."

Arthur closed his eyes and groaned inwardly. _This is so not happening._

Merlin, noticing Arthur's discomfort, stepped in. "It's just that there's this, um, pixie that I accidentally let loose, and Arthur bravely volunteered to help me catch it before anyone else notices it."

"A Pixie?"

"Yes, and Arthur, well he came up with the idea of disguising ourselves as trees to try and catch it."

"Maybe I could help you catch it?"

"NO!" Arthur said hurriedly. "Not that I don't think you could, it's just that it's a very vicious, dangerous creature, isn't it, eh Merlin"

"Well, we could do with some more help"

"Great. That settles it then. I will help you to capture this pixie." Morgana smiled.

"What!? Oh, I give in. Fine, you can help. Come on, before it attacks somebody, or before I do." Arthur strode off in the direction that he had seen the pixie go, with Merlin and Morgana trailing behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Several hours had now passed since Morgana had joined the chase, but night was drawing in. Finally, they gave in for the day, as they would not be able to see anything in the dark.

"Let's stop for the night. We can continue tomorrow," Arthur suggested. It did not take long for the other to be persuaded.

"I should probably go and tell Gaius about what's happened," Merlin said glumly.

"Do you want us to come?" asked Morgana, supportively.

"No, I'll be fine" Merlin said, with a forced smile. "I'll let you get some rest,"

They said their goodbyes, and departed from each other, Morgana and Arthur to their rooms, and Merlin to Gaius' room.

***

Gaius tidied up his workbench, wondering once more as to the whereabouts of Merlin. He understood that he had duties to Arthur as well as himself, but he was sure that he had made himself clear when he told Merlin to bring the flower as soon as he could. He looked out of the window and frowned when he saw how dark it had become. If Merlin didn't return soon, he might have to go and look for him himself.

Right on cue, Merlin walked through the door.

"Where _have_ you been" Gaius questioned. "I've been getting worried"

"I'm not that late. It's only just got dark." Merlin said, hanging up his coat.

"Yes, but I haven't seen you since I sent you to go and get the flower." Gaius shook his head, pushing a plate of food in front of Merlin, who had seated himself at the table.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Merlin asked.

"Where's the flower? You did get it, didn't you? I knew I should have given you the picture of it." Gaius frowned.

"Hey, I did get it"

"Then where is it?"

"Well…"

***

"You're telling me that a pixie has the flower?"

"Yes. Gaius, I am so so sorry. We looked everywhere but we just couldn't find it"

"We?"

"Yes, uh, Me, Arthur and Morgana."

Gaius rolled his eyes "You have to find that Pixie before Uther does. That flower is very rare – you know how much difficulty you had finding it in the first place. You have to get the flower back. And not only that, Pixies can be very violent, especially to humans. Luckily, they don't tend to carry illnesses, but still…"

"I know. We're going to look for it again tomorrow, when we can actually see where we're going"

Gaius nodded. "Fine. But you should go and get some sleep, so you're ready for tomorrow. From my knowledge, pixie's are very difficult to catch"

"Tell me about it," Merlin muttered.

"You were right not to look for it now. Once it gets dark, pixies will find a place to hide until the next day."

"Yeah," Merlin finished his food, and stood up. "Anyway, all this searching has tired me out. I'm going to go to bed. See you in the morning."

Gaius nodded, and returned to his work, rolling his eyes, once Merlin had left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Uther groaned inwardly, as he looked through his accounts in the great hall with his. Whilst he did not want to be a cruel King, he needed more money; and where better to get it from his people? The ball tomorrow night was going to cost him a fortune, if he could not create some funds. Besides, surely his people understood that this ball was extremely important – it was in their best interests to help him pay for it – as it was going to be held in honour of princess ?, who could become a future queen of Camelot, if she was good enough for Arthur. He had heard that she was very beautiful, with long flowing blonde curls, and a pretty face, but most importantly, was a determined and opinionated girl, who at times, could be merciless. Whilst Uther wanted to think the best of his son, he was not blind to the fact that Arthur was a very compassionate man, and having a queen such as dd would certainly balance this out.

Speaking of his son's compassion, Uther noticed that Arthur was not standing up for the villagers as usual. Instead, he looked on edge, jumping every time someone entered the room. _Probably worried about the ball. _Uther thought.

Meanwhile, Arthur's thoughts were in a whirlwind. Not only had he got to think about tomorrow night, but there was now the threat that the pixie could disrupt the entire thing, causing absolute chaos. They had to catch it today, or else face the consequences tomorrow.

It was as they were nearing the end of the meeting that it happened. Arthur was finally relaxing, thinking that the pixie wouldn't show up, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker of movement. Not wanting to draw attention to it if it really was the pixie, he caught Merlin's attention and shook it head towards the pixie's direction. The widening of Merlin's eyes was all he needed to confirm his thoughts: the pixie had arrived. Luckily, as the meeting had been so long and not particularly interesting, people were too sleepy to notice. Just as Arthur was racking his brains, trying to think of an excuse to end the meeting that did not sound a) ridiculous or b) as though he was bored, Morgana walked in.

"Pixie!" she gasped. Arthur cringed.

Uther looked up from the papers, his brows furrowed. "Pardon Morgana, I didn't catch that."

"I...I said... walk with me! I mean this meeting has been going on for such a long time, maybe a good walk in some fresh air will help... uh... help you think of a better way of getting the money" She finished, looking triumphant with herself.

"But Morgana, it's raining." He cast his arm towards the window where Morgana could see the heavy rain clouds that had been over Camelot for the entirety of that day, and in front of them, the pixie, that Uther had luckily not noticed, grinning at her.

"Yes, but..." Morgana faltered, but then reminded herself of the trouble she'd landed them in. Her bottom lip began to tremble, she lowered he head, and her body shook gently.

"Morgana?"

"We never spend any time with each other anymore!" She wailed. "You're always too _busy_". Her body began to shake uncontrollably.

Uther looked uncomfortable. "Very well, fine. Let's go for a walk."

Morgana lifted her head, all traces of tears magically gone, as she went over to Uther and took his arm, giving Arthur a wink when she passed him.

The knights and the advisors, relieved that the meeting was over, in only temporarily, scrambled to the door to get out. When they had left, Arthur and Merlin turned to the window, to see… nothing. The pixie had left. However, trails of flower petals lead them through a side door.

Arthur and Merlin ran through, up the stairs and along the corridor. They stopped, when the path forked, peering down both to guess which was it had gone. But then, Merlin spotted it, waiting patiently for them, before it took off again. This continued, for many more minutes, as they ran through countless corridors and stairways: the pixie always making sure they knew which way to go, but always far away enough that they could never catch up. Soon they arrived, at the entrance to Morgana's room. The door was ajar, but that did not mean that that was the way the pixie had gone. However, whilst they were deliberating about which way to go, they heard a loud smash, followed by Gwen's scream on the other side of the wood.

Arthur barged in, to see Gwen surrounded by broken glass and flowers, clutching a poker.

"Gwen! Are you ok?" Arthur lay his hand on Gwen's arm, lowering the poker.

"Yes, but… What was that? It just launched itself at the flowers,"

"A pixie," said Merlin grimly. "Which way did it go, Gwen?"

"Through the window,"

Merlin marched over to the window, where the pixie sat out of reach on a ledge, smelling his prize, before he tucked it between his teeth and ran off.

"We'll never get it now." Arthur groaned.

"No, but I think I know how to." Merlin smiled, looking at the mess the pixie had made. "Fancy going flower picking tomorrow anyone?"


End file.
